Typing Chinese using Ubuntu LINUX

[lan_dawei]

Hello, anyone out there with experience typing Chinese using Ubuntu LINUX?
I just installed Ubuntu 9.04 and the Chinese typing system seems to be a little
more involved than with Microsoft.

I simply want to type Hanyu Pinyin and get a list of Chinese character to select just
as I do with Microsoft. The types of simplified entry styles are:

Erbi
Erbi-QS
Wubi
Simplex
Ziranma
there also a style written completely in Chinese and I have no idea what it says.
I'm using with a little success! ：－） One thing that annoys me is that I'll start to type just part of the pinyin and the SCIM is already selecting a list of Chinese characters.
I'd at least like to have the pinyin finished before it makes up its mind for me.

thx

[david]

Hey Dave,

I use an older version of Ubuntu on my laptop and use the Chinese pinyin input method (智能拼音 I think). The database doesn't seem to have as many words as the Google and Sogu IME, but I actually find it a lot less frustrating than either of them, if only because it doesn't keep throwing me into "Chinese English" mode, which I find impossible to switch out of using keyboard shortcuts.

Of course, SCIM occasionally freezes keyboard input in Firefox and takes the entire browser down when it crashes. Hope that bug has been fixed by now, since I'd like to upgrade soon.

[lan_dawei]

Hi, Dave.

I should've been able to read the 拼音 in 智能拼音 !
I see from Adsotrans that it is "intelligent pinyin Chinese romanization". Are Google and Sogu included in this bundle? I wouldn't mind knowning about more of these IMEs.

thx! (From my XP box!)
Dave

[lan_dawei]

Oh, yes. How do you type pinyin with the tone marks? I believe that pinyin with the the tone marks are more aesthetically pleasing than appending a number after the word.

[lan_dawei]

I had a disk problem last week and as such was busy re-installing much of what I had
earlier. I noticed that 9.10 was a bit different in how the input method setup worked
than in 9.04. As such, I would suggest that anyone interested go to this website

http://www.pinyinjoe.com/linux/ubuntu-9 ... -setup.htm

This documentation got me up and running, whereas the Ubuntu documentation was a bit dated, not even covering 9.04.

Pinyin Joe had me operational in minutes, whereas it took me a bit of fiddling to ascertain if I had done anything incorrectly with the Ubuntu Synaptic Package Manager.

Happy typing!